Angelica Palacios, a former soccer player at Ouachita Baptist University, has joined the concussion lawsuit against the NCAA., broadening the scope of plaintiffs beyond male football players to include non-revenue sports.

The news was reported in a blog on the New York Times Website.

The suit alleges that the NCAA. “has engaged in a long-established patter of negligence and inaction with respect to concussions and concussion-related maladies sustained by its student-athletes, all while profiting immensely from those same student-athletes.”

It also claims that the association has “failed to implement ‘return to play’ guidelines for athletes with concussions, and screening and detection guidelines for head injuries,” according to the post.

The NCAA rebutted the claim with the following statement:

“These claims demonstrate a clear lack of understanding of our long history of action on this matter. The N.C.A.A. has been at the forefront of safety issues throughout its existence, and the Association has specifically addressed the issue of head injuries through a combination of playing rules, equipment requirements and medical best practices. The N.C.A.A. has great compassion for student-athletes who are injured as a result of training, practice or competition, which fuels our desire to make student-athlete safety our top priority.”

Interesting, Palacios wore headgear “three years before joining her college team,” according to the post. But “during a practice drill in her sophomore year, … she was hit right under her headgear by another player’s head while she was in a group of girls going for a header. ‘It hit me in the eyebrow,’” she said. “I turned and it was already swollen. There was a knot in my eyebrow.’” The incident allegedly happened on a Tuesday. “But Palacios said she was made to run the next Saturday and felt pressure from her coach to get back into the game, even though she didn’t feel well.”